The present invention concerns a portable cigarette cutter and container. A number of cigarette or cigar containers are known in the art. For example, Nielander U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,952 is directed to a portable cigarette cutter, extinguisher and conveyance apparatus. A cigarette is inserted into an aperture located co-axially in a comparatively large, round cylindrical container having a lower reservoir 14 and upper enclosure and receiver assembly 16. The Nielander container is shown much larger than the size of a cigarette. Next, the user pushes a member 18 which moves a blade traversely through the cigarette to slice off part of it. The sliced-off part of the cigarette is moved into the reservoir and deprived of air, causing it to extinguish. Nielander specifically asserts that this device has a “convenient size to be readily portable” and that it is a “conveyance apparatus” (among other things). However, it appears that Nielander does not contemplate transporting the cigarette in the disclosed apparatus, but instead the consumed portions (ashes). Thus, Nielander states, “The cigarette smoker using the invention will retain the cigarette 12 without the severed portion 158 as noted in FIG. 8 and store it in a cigarette pack for further usage.” Col. 8 lines 21-24.Accordingly, Nielander does not provide a combination cigarette cutter and transport case for the unused portion of the severed cigarette. Moreover, the container of the device disclosed in Nielander is many times larger than a single cigarette and is not suitable for carrying in a shirt or pants pocket, for example.
Numerous other patents are directed to a cigarette or cigar extinguisher or storage device. Sieggen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,177 discloses a device that is roughly shaped like a fountain pen for extinguishing and storing a cigarette. Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,953 is another cylindrical-shaped cigarette snuffer. Musick U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,981 discloses a cylindrical device for a lighted cigar holder, which is also applicable to cigarettes. This permits the user to carry a lighted cigar or cigarette on his person. Musetti U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,715 is for a “pocket ashtray” in which a cigarette or cigar is extinguished. This too is a cylindrical shape, pen-size device. See also Irvin U.S. Pat. No. 2,371,445; Field U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,961; and Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 2,120,027. Another prior art apparatus combines a writing tool with a cigarette extinguisher. See Chiang U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,073.
None of these prior art disclosures, however, discloses a device according to the features of the present invention, which allows for the clipping or severing the used part of a cigarette and the insertion of the remaining unused portion into a compact carrying case for storage and subsequent use.